


Nightly Happenings

by GoldieClaws



Series: Selfship Fiction - CharliexGhirahim [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Oneshot, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 07:57:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20503514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldieClaws/pseuds/GoldieClaws
Summary: Hoping for some me-time, Charlie’s evening is quickly ruined when they’re forced to play medic for a certain Demon Lord who thought attempting to ambush someone without help was a good idea.





	Nightly Happenings

**Author's Note:**

> Of course, this type of story was bound to happen between Charlie and Ghirahim, especially with how their chemistry/relationship is. Although to be fair, I was more inspired by a post I saw on Twitter, so I just had to.  
Here's the tweet btw: https://twitter.com/garclevoir/status/1168033739026268160  
Also, to be honest, I either wait 15+ chapters in my self-fic to get to this kinda moment or I do a oneshot and sneakily edit it into my self-fic when the time comes. Remind young me to have more damn guts to post my self inserts more often because then I wouldn’t have this problem lmao.

Charlie gently placed their wine on the side table and leaned back in their chair, holding their book in both hands and watching as the flames from the fireplace glinted off the glass. They listened to the wind howling from outside and trees rustling violently, then sighed happily.

How nice it was to live somewhere safe and warm. Sure, they couldn’t do anything_ too _insane without Mr. Kingy and his flying rat knowing, but at least enjoying a nice moment by the fire wasn’t too absurd to be off-limits.

They stayed like that for a moment longer, letting themselves get comfortable in the soft blanket enveloping them.

_I could definitely get used to this._

Finally, content, Charlie reached over for their glass and opened their book to the last page they’d bookmarked.

Before they could take a sip however, the peaceful atmosphere was rudely interrupted by a front door slamming so loud, Charlie nearly threw their wine forward and onto the carpet.

From beyond the door, they could hear muffled talking between two people. Immediately, Charlie recognised them both as Ghirahim and Izanagi.

Grumbling to themselves in anger at being interrupted, they put the glass and book back on the side table, threw the blanket off, and stormed over to the door, swinging it open with one sure movement.

“Haven't you two got anything better to do?!” They barked, but then paused at the sight before them.

Both figures were shocked by Charlie’s sudden presence, with Ghirahim’s hand still partially outstretched to reach for the doorknob. Whatever had happened, someone had certainly not been kind to him. He was covered in small cuts, some deep and some shallow, and bruises. Blood was already soaking into his clothes. Despite his wounds' apparent severity it hadn’t been enough to down him, but he did seem to wobble slightly as he stood there.

Izanagi was holding handfuls of used and unused bandages, clearly trying her best to patch Ghirahim up before he’d gotten to the door. She lowered her eyes in embarrassment, bracing for what Charlie was going to say.

“Are you- Are you _serious _right now, Ghirahim?!” Charlie leaned forward and dragged the hapless Lord through the doorway. Izanagi followed through, rolls of bandages trailing behind her. Ghirahim went to answer but was quickly interrupted.

“For Heaven’s sake you _idiot! _Don’t tell me you’ve gone and upset someone again. I _warned _you about that!” They looked him up and down, trying to get an understanding of how badly he’d been hit.

Before Charlie could start ranting properly, Izanagi quickly chimed in.

“It was Sheikah this time.”

Charlie paused, put their hands on Ghirahim’s shoulders then turned to her.

“His Lordship was trying to ambush a Sheikah member that had been seen crossing over His Majesty’s borders. Unfortunately, it seems that this time they had friends with them and, well…” She turned to Ghirahim, who now refused to meet anyone’s gaze. Charlie tightened their grip on his shoulders.

“Well?”

He shrugged, as though he were too proud to admit he’d lost.

“I may have. Miscalculated that encounter. Slightly.”

“_Slightly?! _Look at you! You can barely stand up straight.”

At that Ghirahim turned to face Charlie and defiantly pushed their hands off him.

“I’ll have you know I’m perfectly fine! It was only a few idiotic children who thought they could win against me.” At that he took a step back, only to be greeted by a sudden wave of vertigo that made the room spin before him. He put one hand on the wall and another on his head, trying to steady himself and hide the fact he’d just made a fool of himself in front of the two people he knew.

Charlie sighed, annoyed at this man’s own incompetence.

“Iz, can you please go get more bandages and that weird healing cream you have? He’s going to need it. Leave the clean bandages though, I have something to work with then.” They stepped forward, put one arm around Ghirahim and lead him to the chair they'd been previously sitting in.

“Oh, yes of course!” Izanagi placed them at the base of the fireplace, picked up any dirty ones and ran to the door, closing it behind her with a loud click.

Charlie watched the door for a moment before turning back to Ghirahim, who still had his head in his hands. In the light from the fireplace they had a better look at how badly he’d been injured. The blood in his clothes and various cuts and scrapes had ruined them beyond repair. He was certainly lucky though. That amount of blood would probably kill your average Hylian.

Charlie bent down, taking both of his hands and quickly removing the gloves he wore.

“What are you doing?” Ghirahim mumbled, turning his head slightly to look at Charlie out of the corner of his eye.

“You think I’m going to apply bandages over your clothes? That’s not how it works.”

“The clothes could be acting like a plug for the wounds.”

“That would matter if you were like me, but you’re not. Since when have you ever used that excuse?”

Ghirahim looked down and gritted his teeth.

“Maybe I want to keep my shirt on.”

“Maybe I want to take it off so I can clean you properly.” Charlie stood up and crossed their arms.

“Charlie,” He turned to face them properly. “You know by now I’ll have healed from these wounds in due time. You don’t have to fuss over me like a baby.”

“You’re still prone to infection, aren’t you?”

“Well, kind of but-”

“And with _that _many cuts it would just raise your chances of getting ill, regardless of how ‘unique’ you are. Then you'll get in trouble with Demise for ‘slacking off’ or feigning sickness.” Charlie gave him a judging look. “Is it too much to ask that I just want to make sure you’re OK? Or is your stubbornness going to be the death of you?”

Ghirahim couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the last comment.

“Not unless your stubbornness wins first.” He gave them a weak smile. “Scissors are in my work desk. Top drawer on the left. I think you might need them.” He moved to detach his shirt from his body, but the blood had made it stick to him like glue.

Charlie gave him a small nod and walked off, leaving him to his own devices.

He knew it would take him a good while to ever dream of admitting it, but he did like how Charlie cared for him, even if it was accompanied by biting retorts at his ‘stupidity’. Sure, he had Izanagi and could easily ask for her aid instead of Charlie’s, but there was something about the way Izanagi was always so careful in never daring to question his authority or argue back that just became so. _Boring_. Where’s the fun in not having a rival, someone who isn’t afraid of you like his subjects were, can comment back with quips that match your own?

Lost in thought, he hadn’t noticed Charlie return until he felt them push him forward.

“I need to get to your shirt so don’t move. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

“Try to not give me a haircut either.”

“Don’t worry, you look bad enough already.”

Ghirahim held his breath to stop himself from laughing.

_OK, that was pretty funny._

He waited patiently as Charlie continued to carefully slice through the fabric. They put a hand on him as they worked, making Ghirahim shiver and realise how cold he was.

“Your hands are warm.”

“What?”

“N-nothing. I’m just. A little cold is all.”

Charlie said nothing, but he heard them exhale quietly. There was a small waver to it, like Charlie was trembling. He tried to turn to look at them, but they placed a hand on his head and forced him to look forward.

“I said don’t move.”

With a final snap of the scissors, Charlie put them down and moved to stand in front of him.

“Hold your arms out in front of you.”

Doing as he was told, Ghirahim's breath caught in his throat when their face was suddenly so close to his. They wrapped their arms around him to get to the shirt’s corners and were just barely touching him, trying to avoid ruining their own clothes. Already he could feel his cheeks burning as their hands pressed and stroked against his back. Charlie ignored his expressions, fumbling about behind him.

“Where the hell- Ah, here we go.” Finally, with their hands on the clothing, they gently peeled it back around his waist and to his front. To Ghirahim’s surprise it detached itself from him relatively easily, even if it did sting slightly when they did so.

Charlie dropped the useless and bloody shirt to the floor, then knelt down to examine the bandages Izanagi had left for them.

“Which one is the worst wound?”

Ghirahim struggled to find his words, feeling somewhat shell-shocked with how close they’d been to him.

“Ghirahim come on, I need an answer.”

“Uh.. C-chest. On my chest.” He lightly patted the cut there which had already bled all the way down to his waist.

“Alright, let’s see how this goes.” Charlie stood up and disappeared back into the other room, quickly returning with a bowl full of water and a small flannel.

Ghirahim put his hands on the chair’s arms to push himself up, only to be immediately pushed back down by Charlie.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t want you getting water on this chair! It’s expensive.”

“You’ve already bled all over it! It won’t matter for god’s sake.”

“But I want to stand up!”

“You’ll fall over and hurt yourself then!”

“Not if I hold onto the chair.” Ghirahim did as he said, moving to stand behind it and holding onto the wooden frame. Charlie rolled their eyes and followed him. There was no point in arguing with him now.

“Turn around at least and lean against it. I can’t get to your chest otherwise.”

With care, they dabbed the flannel against him, making him gasp as the ice-cold water ran down him.

“Couldn’t you have heated that up slightly?” He stood upright, raising a hand in defiance.

Like before, he was met by silence and a light tremble in Charlie’s breath as they sighed loudly. They kept their eyes fixated on the cloth, ignoring him.

Without another word, Ghirahim relaxed and put his hand back down. He’d been so overcome with his feelings of dizziness and arguing back he’d been ignoring Charlie’s aura ever since he walked through the door.

To their credit, their remarks had hidden their true feelings of upset, worry, and distress over Ghirahim’s current condition. It felt like any moment now they’d snap, yell at him properly for being so foolish and burst into tears because of it.

He’d never seen Charlie cry or ever get this upset over something. There was a strange yet weirdly comforting feeling about this that touched him.

Charlie, even if they’d never say it out loud, cared about him. _Genuinely_ cared about him. They’d gone to all this trouble to patch him up, make sure he was safe, make sure he was even _OK. _Very easily they could have asked Izanagi to stay with them or gone to get the extra supplies themselves, but they didn’t.

“Charlie?”

They ignored him.

He took a deep breath and placed a hand under their chin, gently lifting their head to meet his gaze.

“Charlie.” They returned his soft look with their own and he couldn’t help but smile when their eyes met. “I know it’s too late to say this, but I appreciate what you’ve done for me so far.”

“Since day one or just now?” They tilted their head. “Unless you like being punched repeatedly.”

His smile became a laugh as he brought their face closer to his.

“I thought those were punches of love. Was I wrong this whole time?”

“Maybe.”

Finally, he got what he wanted. A small, rare, but still equally wonderful smile.

Charlie’s aura had shifted to a calmer tone now and they looked at him with an amused look in their eye.

If only he could spend the rest of the night looking at them like this. The lighting from the fire made them stand out against the dark perfectly, their eyes reflecting the flames back to him. He couldn’t help but pull them even closer, their faces now inches apart. Charlie placed a hand on his own that was still using the chair for balance, daring to risk getting blood and water all over them.

Slowly, he moved his free hand from under their chin to run his fingers through their hair, only for them to take his hand and press it against their cheek. Their face was pleasantly cool against his skin.

_It would be so easy._ Ghirahim thought. _To just. Bring them even closer than ever before. To wrap their arms around one another and feel Charlie’s body against his. To even dare to k-_

“OK I’m back!” Izanagi exclaimed, tumbling through the doorway with mountains of bandages in her arms and a small bag at her side that clinked and rattled loudly.

Ghirahim and Charlie tore themselves away from one another, the former nearly falling over and the latter covering their face with one hand, turning their back on the room’s new occupant.

“How are you sir-”

“I’m fine Izanagi! Just- Knock next time my god!” He tried his best to hide his own blushing from her, pretending to focus on the wounds on one of his arms.

“But I was so worried for you!” She shuffled over to the table on the other side of the room and started emptying her bag. “This is the worst I’ve seen you and if I stood by then, well, I’d be no better than the Lizalfos.”

Ghirahim and Charlie shared a look as Izanagi got to work. Then, they approached him with a pointing finger.

“Not a word to anyone.” They hissed, whispering loudly but just low enough so Izanagi continued to remain oblivious.

Ghirahim pretended to lock his mouth closed at Charlie’s request.

_Not a word._


End file.
